Thursday, December 29, 2011

Math trolling

Just a little pic I found on the internet:


 Try and find out what is wrong

SPOILER ALERT!!!

In step 6, due to the order of operations, the operation inside the parentheses (a-x) should be done first which would cause the equation to be 0=0.
                                                               

How to debate

Dear readers,

       Along with showing controversial topics upon how to debate, I also will be showing you how to effectively debate the affirmative and negative sides of both arguments. It will be a long course going on from about 1/7 - 6/14. I will give it in a series of posts and at the end, post a link to a full printable page.

Thanks,
Kevin Prabhakar

P.S. If you have any ideas for a topic, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Child actors' wages

Should Child actors be allowed to keep their wages?

     In 1939, Jackie Coogan, a famous child actor, sued his mother and former manager for allegedly "stealing" his actor wages. Although it was not stealing because it was the law, Jackie Coogan felt that he was being stolen from because his father had died and his film career had started to dwindle. Today, we see several child actors in hollywood such as those from the movie Super 8. In the picture above we see Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, and Gabriel Basso. This issue is not being addressed enough in the media. Since 1939, the Jackie Coogan law allows children to take property of their wages although 15% is put into a blocked account until 21. So what are the pros of cons of this law?

Pros
  • Children can choose what to do with their money.
  • Bad parents cannot take advantage of the child's money.
  • Children cannot go completely bankrupt
Cons
  • Irresponsible children can blow off 85% of their earnings.
Need more info? Check out this link:

http://www.sag.org/content/coogan-law



Facebook privileges


Should Facebook be allowed for children under age 16?

     Whenever something important happens in our lives, it seems the first people we tell are not our family but our friends -- on Facebook that is! Facebook is becoming a huge part of our lives that has benefitted so many people to reconnect with friends and family halfway across the globe. But with every blessing comes consequences. The internet can be a dangerous place for those who do not know how to properly use it, and within this category falls children under the age of sixteen. Now to demonstrate the various pros and cons.

Pros
  • Helps reconnect with friends and family
  • Allows for quick simple chat messages as well as email-like messages
Cons
  • Great invasion of privacy
    • Facebook sells information to other companies and people who can use it against you
  • Can lead to personal or social harm
    • Several suicides and murders have been committed due to Facebook
  • Time-consuming and even addicting

Not enough points to decide? Hold your own debate. Have two groups of about 6-7 people sitting on separate tables discussing the said topics. Have anything to add? Feel free to comment and share your opinions.

Introduction

Everyday on the news we hear debates on politics, war and religion. But who is there to speak out against the little problems in our every day society:
  • How old should a baby-sitter be?
  • Should child actors be allowed access to their wages?
  • Should facebook be allowed for children under 16?
In this day and age, we have issues of privacy, hopelessness and fear. But they all disappear once we address these problems, and that's what I'm here for.

Expect new issues to be addressed every week!